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Super Mario Bros. (NES) - Early 5-Screw Standalone Cartridge, Authentic Nintendo

The standalone Super Mario Bros. in the early five-screw shell Nintendo used until about 1988, black box Action Series label and original screws. Graded for condition.

$60.00

Condition

How I grade condition: every grade is tested and plays; grades differ only in looks.

Want to see the exact copy you'd get, inside and out? Ask me for photos, board included.

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The five-screw cart

Nintendo’s early NES carts were held together by five screws, one in each corner and one in the middle. Around 1987-88 it switched to three, with plastic tabs replacing the top two. Five screws is the quick tell for an early production cart, which is why collectors look for it (photo 2 shows all five), and this is the standalone Super Mario Bros. in that early shell, with the black box Action Series label and its original screws.

This is the cart Nintendo sold on its own and packed in with the first NES Control Decks, before Nintendo put the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt two-in-one in the 1988 Action Set. Same World 1-1, same Koji Kondo score, same Minus World glitch; what you are paying for is the early cart.

What you get

A five-screw standalone Super Mario Bros., opened, cleaned and tested by playing, in the grade you pick on my condition scale. Two players take turns, with Luigi on controller 2, and there is no battery inside to wear out.

Five screws means early production (1985 to about 1987-88), not a specific “first print”: Nintendo kept no public print records, so nobody can pin a five-screw cart to its first run.

If you just want to play Super Mario Bros., the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo is the same game for less. Other early five-screw carts in the shop: Golf. For more Nintendo of the era, see Zelda II and Donkey Kong Classics.

Specifications

AuthenticityAuthentic original Nintendo cartridge in the early five-screw shell, not a reproduction
ConditionPick a condition grade. Every copy is opened, cleaned, and tested by playing.
IncludesLoose cartridge only (no box or manual)
Players1-2, alternating turns (player 2 is Luigi)
PrintFive-screw shell (screws at all four corners plus the center), made from 1985 to about 1987-88. Original screws.
RegionNTSC (North America)
SaveNone (no battery)
Title FullSuper Mario Bros. (Nintendo Entertainment System, 1985)